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Investment in Arctic Connect Boosts the Economy in Western Uusimaa

News21.6.2018

New connections further strengthen the position of the Hanko Region as a significant international network location

C-Fiber Hanko today announced a commitment to invest in the Arctic Connect project, an initiative to explore the possibilities of building a digital bridge between Europe and Asia via the Northeast passage. The initiative is run by Cinia Ltd and commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications.

C-Fiber Hanko has previously invested in C-Lion1, a fast and cyber secure submarine data connection between Finland and Germany designed and built by Cinia. International network connections through the Western Uusimaa region are leveraged to boost economic development and employment in the area.

Arctic Connect route plans may include an option for a C-Lion2, a submarine connection between the Bay of Bothnia and the Hanko Peninsula. This route would also serve as a complementary connection and backup to terrestrial networks.

The Arctic Connect initiative is linked to the Arctic Council’s objective to improve connectivity in the Arctic region. In preparation to the Arctic Connect data connection, Cinia is now looking into the availability of and needs for terrestrial and submarine fiber connections between Southern Finland, Kirkenes in Norway, and Murmansk in Russia.

“The Hanko Peninsula is a landing point of several submarine cables between Finland and Sweden,” said Eero Hettula, Chairman of the Board of C-Fiber Hanko. “A branch of C-Lion1 recently opened a direct connection to Germany, and C-Lion2 would add to the importance and appeal of the area as a network node and data center location.”

“Based on route plans and discussions with various interest groups during the preliminary investigation phase, Finland’s nation-wide network backbone needs additional fiber optic connections,” said Ari-Jussi Knaapila, CEO of Cinia Ltd. “As new services and applications along with FTTH/B and 5G networks continue to increase data traffic, reliable and comprehensive optical backbone is a must.”

The scale of the Arctic Connect initiative is huge. When ready, Arctic Connect would link together Europe, North America, and Asia, with a potential reach of 85% of the world’s population. Technical specifications in the current plans are six fiber pairs with a capacity of 60 terabits per second (Tbit/s) and total length of 18,000 kilometers.

A report published by the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications in November 2016 verified that Japan, China, Sweden, Finland, EU, and Russia regard the initiative as necessary and valuable. The company established to run the Arctic Connect initiative is now tasked to investigate the requirements for building the submarine data connection via the Northeast passage, to commission the necessary environmental studies and regulatory preparations, and to request proposals for building the cable to enable more accurate budgeting and planning.

Cinia Ltd offers intelligent network, system and software services, along with secure cloud-based services which make the world smaller and smarter. Cinia’s robust expertise in critical systems and its fiber optic trunk network that spans over 10,000 km in Finland ensure a cyber-secure ICT infrastructure and an advanced cloud-based operating environment for businesses. The Cinia C-Lion1 cable is the shortest and fastest highway for data communications between Central Europe and Northern Europe, which is currently the ideal environment for data centres and provides access to the Asian and Eastern European markets. The Finnish Cinia employs approximately 240 experts. More information: www.cinia.fi

C-Fiber Hanko Oy is a company owned by the municipalities and representatives for the local industry in the Hanko-Raasepori area. C-Fiber Hanko Oy focuses on making way for international data connections to be built to the Hanko-Raasepori area, making the area a significant point-of-presence for traffic from Frankfurt, Stockholm, Helsinki and further to new and existing routes north and east. Through this C-Fiber Hanko Oy aims to make the area suitable and interesting for data center deployments and other types of data intensive industry. www.c-fiber.fi

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